Early Learning Centre

In the Mary Jones Early Learning Centre (ELC), Kindergarten and Pre-prep girls and boys are involved in a full day program from the age of 3 years. Hours of education are from 9am-3pm five days a week during the school term.

Skills and attitudes developed in these very early childhood years form the basis for life-long learning. We are committed to providing a happy, secure and stimulating environment in which pre-schoolers will experience expert care and attention appropriate to their age and stage of learning.

Independence, initiative, motivation, perseverance, confidence, co-operation and good self image are all encouraged.

Developmentally based programs encourage children to become active learners and communicators, realising their potential as an individual and member of a group as they mature and discover the world around them through a combination of creative free-play, structured activities and social interaction. Indoor and outdoor activities are balanced throughout the day to further encourage skills development in cognitive, social, emotional, gross and fine motor areas.

The sequential programs aim to match and challenge each child’s developing abilities and interests. Children are actively encouraged to participate in their own learning through a vast array of educational activities that promote a love of learning, independence, co-operation and confidence. Carefully chosen individual and group activities introduce children to mathematics, the language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, science, studies of society and environment, technology and the Arts.

Access to all School facilities, resources and specialist staff compliment our programs. Music, Library, Physical Education, visiting performers and excursions further enhance an optimum learning environment for Pre-schoolers. Proximity to the Primary Years learning centre allows for cross-age interaction and valuable links with siblings.

The aim in the early years of schooling is to establish a firm foundation of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for further learning. Our particular emphasis is on students achieving high standards in literacy and numeracy, thereby establishing skills essential for success in all areas of learning. Language and mathematical skills, concepts and processes are developed through the ‘Early Years Literacy and Numeracy Programs’. Of the utmost importance is to ‘spark the fire’ for a love of life-long learning.

Environment

The Early Learning Centre is set in a quiet, secure corner of the adventurous and beautiful grounds of Mentone Grammar. The outdoor areas invite young people to explore and investigate in a variety of spaces for socialisation, while the indoors provide ever changing worlds of interactive learning for a child’s eye view of the world.

A Partnership with Parents

Parents and families are always welcome at the Early Learning Centre. Our ‘open-door’ policy encourages parents to visit the ELC to discuss their child’s progress at any time. Parent Information Evenings are held to provide opportunities for discussion of various aspects of early childhood development and education. These consolidate the vital links between the home and the ELC.
The benefits of a supportive relationship between home and the ELC cannot be over-emphasised, as children develop confidence and a healthy understanding of themselves and others in a social context which respects and recognises individual differences.
At Mentone Grammar, you and your child are invited to join an exciting educational journey along a road which is safe, secure and filled with fun and adventure, where children are free to grow and develop their abilities to their maximum potential.

Primary Years - Prep – Grade 4

The Mentone Grammar Primary Years learning program challenges students to reach their potential, encouraging them to become, confident decision makers, who are prepared to take risks in becoming self-sufficient, independent learners. Interactive learning experiences are practised to excite the inquisitive learner in all our students.
The curriculum uses the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) as its minimum basis, but provides extension and additional assistance where individual students’ needs and learning styles are addressed more fully. Students in the Primary Years are encouraged to access opportunities in developing their individual interests alongside the class curriculum.
Opportunities to experience visiting performers, speakers and be involved in excursions further enhance an optimum learning environment.
Integrated or holistic learning provides comprehensive coverage across all Key Learning Areas (KLA’s), while maintaining the integrity of each, which may be delivered separately or as an integrated part of the P-4 classroom.

Program Key Learning Areas

This grouping together of the ‘Key Learning Areas’, or integrated approach to curriculum organisation and delivery, includes continued reinforcement of specific teaching of foundation literacy and numeracy skills. It provides students with ample opportunity to learn about their world and their place within it.

• SCIENCE - students observe, investigate and respond to topics involving such things as their senses, lifecycles, needs of living things and changes in substances, taking in biological, chemical and Earth and space scientific investigation.
• SOSE - (Studies of Society and Environment), students view their importance, place and participation in the family, the neighbourhood and the broader community as well the studying Australia’s people living in its unique environment.
• TECHNOLOGY students learn about the characteristics of materials, their function and manner of movement. Computers in information technology develop the student’s skills and understanding in this form of communication to a variety of audiences.
• HEALTH and PHYSICAL EDUCATION, the students study their health as individuals and as a society and their relationships with others. They enjoy movement and physical activity in the development of coordination and sporting skills during physical education lessons, sport, weekly swimming lessons, specialist sport, sports days and class group activities.
• THE ARTS - children are involved in creative specialist programs being delivered in music and visual art. Learning of instruments occurs in class lessons and is encouraged on an individual basis.
• LOTE (Languages Other Than English) students from Prep learn a language through listening, speaking, reading and writing, broadening their comprehension as they progressively move through the grades. Cultural aspects other than language are also studied to give the students appreciation of other people in our world.